Groundhog Day with Guest Jim Jermanok — The Next Reel Speakeasy

January 10th, 2017

Episode description

"You couldn’t plan a day like this."

The Next Reel’s Speakeasy is an ongoing series of ours in which we invite an industry guest to join us and bring along one of their favorite movies to talk about. In this month’s episode, writer, producer, director and former agent Jim Jermanok joins us to talk about one of his favorite movies, Harold Ramis’ 1993 film Groundhog Day.

We talk about how this film was received at the time of its release, why this film holds up so well and perhaps why it took people some time to really find the meaning in the movie. We look at what Bill Murray is doing here and discuss why his character, Phil Connor, is easy to connect to despite the fact that he starts out as horribly unlikeable. We chat about Andie MacDowell, Chris Elliott and Stephen Tobolowsky, as well as the rest of the cast, and what they bring to the table. We look at the evolution of Danny Rubin’s original script and how he and Ramis reworked it to create a timeless classic. And we ponder the strangeness of the actual Groundhog Day holiday and how it may have been just the perfect holiday to celebrate for a film like this.

It’s a great film and Jim brings plenty of perspective to the conversation, having worked both the creative and business sides of the industry. So check out the movie then tune in to this month’s Speakeasy again… and again… and again….

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